September 2024 Newsletter: A Look Into SOIL's Corner of Haiti

Dear Friend,

As an organization based in Haiti for over 18 years, we know what it is like to work alongside Haitians – who are some of the strongest, bravest, kindest, and most hard-working people we have ever known. Each morning, as the first light breaks over the city, Cap-Haitien is already alive with the sounds of effort and toil: madan sara setting up baskets of produce and wares at the local market, street vendors frying up paté and boiling coffee, motos buzzing along the boulevard carrying neatly dressed children headed to school. By 6 a.m., SOIL’s sanitation workers are out and about, navigating their three-wheelers through the maze of winding streets and steep alleyways, collecting containers for our EkoLakay service. By 6 p.m., as the fierce Caribbean sun finally begins to relent, our team members wrap up their conversations with local partners and government officials, many of whom note that they are heading to yet another meeting in another part of town – continuing their work late into the night.

It is our privilege to work in this beautiful, unique, and revolutionary nation. We take great pride in being an organization operated and managed primarily by Haitians, and in the dawn-to-dusk work ethic we witness everyday among the members of our team. Their diligence is matched only by their passion, creativity, and leadership–all of which define SOIL’s mission and purpose–and are the reasons we’ve been able to sustain our work here for so long, when so many other well-intentioned endeavors seem to have left Haiti behind.

Despite headlines reading of disparagement and scorn, which we unconditionally condemn and refute, there’s a different story unfolding in our little corner of Haiti. A story of persistence, of innovation, of partnership – of what’s working. This past year, despite protracted insecurity and unrest, SOIL has seen the largest growth in our history with an over 40% increase in clients. Our team in Cap-Haitien continues, without pause, to provide critical support to an increasingly vulnerable population, exemplifying the spirit of dedication and commitment that will continue to drive SOIL forward, no matter what’s to come. SOIL is driven by our dedicated Haitian team who are deeply committed to each other, to their communities, and to the belief that a peaceful, stable future for Haiti is within reach. 

We are hopeful that the coming decade holds significant progress for SOIL’s mission and for the health and prosperity of all of Haiti, as we continue to expand our partnerships and increase our capacity to provide the basic human right of safe sanitation to even more residents in vulnerable urban communities. We invite you to look to our team in Haiti as a beacon of hope and resilience; and of what we know to be true about the people who inhabit the beautiful country that we so love.

In Solidarity,

The SOIL team